The Impossible Man - by Patchen Barss (Hardcover)

About the Book

"As a little boy, Roger Penrose and his father discovered a sundial in a clearing behind their home. In that machine made of light, shadow, and time, six-year-old Roger discovered a "world behind the world" of transcendently beautiful geometry, beginning a journey toward becoming one of the world's most influential mathematicians, philosophers, and physicists. In the years to come, Penrose earned a Nobel Prize, a knighthood, and dozens of other prestigious honors. He proved the limitations of general relativity, and he set a new agenda for theoretical physics. However, as Patchen Barss documents in The Impossible Man, success came at a price. Penrose's longing for knowledge was matched only by his inability to understand those around him, and he struggled to connect with friends, family, and especially the women in his life. His final years have been spent alone with his research, intentionally cut off from the people who loved him. Erudite and deeply moving, The Impossible Man intimately depicts the relationship between Penrose the scientist and Roger the human being. It reveals the tragic cost-to himself and those closest to him-of Roger Penrose's extraordinary life"--

Book Synopsis

A New Yorker Best Book of 2024
A Globe and Mail Best Book of 2024
A Financial Times Best Book of 2024
A Kirkus Best Book of 2024
A Daily Telegraph Best Book of 2024

A "beautifully composed and revealing" (Financial Times) biography of the dazzling and painful life of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger Penrose--"a stunning achievement" (Kai Bird, American Prometheus).

When he was six years old, Roger Penrose discovered a sundial in a clearing near his house. Through that machine made of light, shadow, and time, Roger glimpsed a "world behind the world" of transcendently beautiful geometry. It spurred him on a journey to become one of the world's most influential mathematicians, philosophers, and physicists.

Penrose would prove the limitations of general relativity, set a new agenda for theoretical physics, and astound colleagues and admirers with the elegance and beauty of his discoveries. However, as Patchen Barss documents in The Impossible Man, success came at a price: He was attuned to the secrets of the universe, but struggled to connect with loved ones, especially the women who care for or worked with him.

Both erudite and poetic, The Impossible Man draws on years of research and interviews, as well as previously unopened archives to present a moving portrait of Penrose the Nobel Prize-winning scientist and Roger the human being. It reveals not just the extraordinary life of Roger Penrose, but asks who gets to be a genius, and who makes the sacrifices that allow one man to be one.

Review Quotes

"Barss captures the mathematician - still working at age 93 - in his own, real world, and shows that while maths may well have an independent existence from the physical universe, it is practised by people. People with families, frustrations, triumphs and tragedies. And he does it brilliantly."--Sydney Morning Herald

"For five years, Patchen Barss, a veteran Canadian science writer, spoke to Penrose 'almost every week, ' read beaucoup personal documents, and interviewed dozens of the man's close acquaintances. The result is the lovely, sensitive, informative, and absorbing THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN, a new biography that ably recounts Penrose's life and work."--Washington Independent Review of Books

"...this remarkable, smooth-reading book fills a major gap in the literature" --Nature

"In this elegant biography, Barss vividly evokes Penrose's geometric sensibility and his quest to prove that a geometrically perfect world lies hidden behind everyday reality."--The New Yorker

"a moving and intimate portrait of a figure who has expanded our understanding of the universe... This biography depicts Sir Roger in multiple dimensions; only a writer as psychologically astute as Barss could show us an impossible man in full." --The New York Times

"Patchen Barss's absorbing biography, 'The Impossible Man, ' is not a voyeuristic freak show. Mr. Barss, a science journalist, has a higher purpose: to help us better understand 'how science happens, where creative inspiration comes from, and who contributes and sacrifices to make works of genius possible.' On all three counts, he succeeds."--The Wall Street Journal

"The Impossible Man is a primer to the Penrose understanding of the cosmos, and a remarkable study of the lengths one man has gone to avoid understanding himself." --The Telegraph

"A fascinating biography...beautifully composed and revealing. ... Barss, in addition to adeptly explaining complex concepts such as the singularity theorem, makes skillful and sensitive use of Penrose's archive, plus interviews with Penrose himself (who did not have copy approval) and surviving friends, family and colleagues."--Anjana Ahuja, Financial Times

"A penetrating, warts and all biography of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger Penrose... Barss's sensitive handling of Penrose's tumultuous personal life puts this a notch above other 'great minds' biographies... a haunting portrait of a brilliant scientist unwilling to confront his personal shortcomings."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Superb insights into a flawed genius."--Kirkus (starred review)

"A cosmic romance, at once intimate and grand. The Impossible Man is charming and gripping, edifying and soulful, a lot like Roger Penrose himself."--Siobhan Roberts, author of Genius at Play

"Barss uses the skills of a fine novelist to tell the story of one of the true giants of twentieth-century mathematics and physics, Roger Penrose, in a biography that reveals the complex and compelling character of the man alongside the importance of his contributions to geometry, relativity, and a wide range of other fields. The biography that Penrose deserves."--David N. Schwartz, author of The Last Man Who Knew Everything

"One day in 1965, Roger Penrose is crossing a London street and suddenly his imagination is working in four dimensions. The result is an insight that transforms Einstein's relativity theorem. Patchen Barss writes lyrically about this scientific quest, but he also explores the frail human side of Penrose's journey. The result is a page-turner reminiscent of James Gleick's Genius, the bestselling biography of Richard Feynman. The Impossible Man is a stunning achievement."--Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Prometheus

"Phenomenal: blisteringly candid, elegiac, and utterly compelling, The Impossible Man strips away the myths to expose the frailties and foibles of a mathematical genius who inspired generations. A new landmark of scientific biography."--Ananyo Bhattacharya, author of The Man from the Future

About the Author

Patchen Barss is a Toronto-based science journalist who has contributed to the BBC, Nautilus magazine, Scientific American, and the Discovery Channel (Canada), as well as to many science and natural history museums. His previous books include The Erotic Engine: How Pornography Has Powered Mass Communication, from Gutenberg to Google, and Flow Spin Grow: Looking for Patterns in Nature.